Hello from Vacation!

Hi there,

I currently am sitting in the Jetblue Terminal at JFK International Airport awaiting my flight to Orlando. I have decided that after a grueling few weeks the best thing I need is a little rest and relaxation with my good old pals Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck. For those who know me well they know that I am a HUGE Disney fan, so this is a very exciting time for me. Until I get there, I have some free time so I figured I would give another update of what Alex and I have been up to.

Application Process

Alex and I have finalized the application and selection process which was roughly outlined in the previous entry. Please see the entry for more specific dates but the process will begin on Wednesday March 11th when the application goes live on UGBC.org. Thanks to our friends at Google the entire application will be done online and it will be much easier to aggregate all the information than in the past. Last year, Alej had to literally piece all the applications together. This year, Google will do all of that for us. 1-0 us. 

We have finalized the actual application as well. Don't be afraid though because there is nothing on there that you haven't been asked before. We really value the application because it gives an individual an opportunity to tell us a story or a little bit about themselves and their experiences. In general terms, we are looking for

1. Individuals with a strong interest in helping make BC the best it can be

2. Individuals who can demonstrate that they have worked well in a team setting and that are willing to work on a team.

3. Individuals who are willing to make UGBC and students their top commitments 

4. Individuals who are eager and willing to learn.

We understand that not everyone will know the in's and out's of UGBC, or that people won't necessarily know all the things they must do before they put on an event, and thats okay- because we can work with you and teach you that! What we are looking for are people who have intagible skills that we cannot teach, such as effective communication, public speaking, ability to work with others, commitment, selflessness and a care and concern for all individuals. So yeah, just uh, be yourselves, y'all are great people, just let it shine through!

UGBC Structure

We also spent this week taking a look at the current structure of UGBC and to see what changes we needed to make. To do this, we sat down with current members of UGBC, past members of UGBC and Administrators to get feedback and advice. Additionally, we went through position by position to get a full analysis of what was working and what was not working. While we are not entirely set in stone, here are a few things to note.

- We felt that as a Cabinet we were a bit big, and we wanted to trim down just a bit. To do this, we were able to combine the duties of specific positions, move positions to different departments, turn positions which typically had 2 directors to positions that had 1 director, and then also we outright cut specific positions. We feel that this will work out better and ensure that there is more work equity amongst UGBC.

- Upon conversations with individuals, we also realized that there was a certain stigma that if there was an issue that we needed to immediately create a position to work on that issue. An example of this was that up until the Castillo-Sievers Administration there were two positions dedicated to the Board of Trustees presentation that the President and Vice President give 3 times a year, something that could easily be handled by the President, Vice President and Chief of Staff. Just because an issue does not have a position represented in the government does not mean that we are not going to address it. UGBC needs to represent all the issues that students have, but if we created a specific position for every single student issue we would have a very very large cabinet. Therfore, when position descriptions do come out, if you do not see a position that covers something that you are passionate about, don't be afraid. Please let us know what that concern is and we will happily address it in any way that we can.

OK, I think thats all I got for now. I hope people are enjoying this and hopefully learning a little bit of what goes on behind the scenes of UGBC. If you have any questions, comments, concerns, love or hate mail please email us at alalex2009 at gmail.com and we'd be happy to respond! Lastly, have a safe and fun spring break wherever you are traveling or wherever your destination ends up being. In the words of a close friend, "make good life choices!"

-Al

Monday February 23rd 2009

Good afternoon!

We've made it through day 3 of our transition process and we are working hard and on a roll. There is much to get done in a short amount of time! As such, we've been working diligently to ensure we are ready for the coming year. To begin with this, we have a tentative set of dates for the UGBC Application and Selection process. These are almost final but are subject to change. Please take a look at them below:

Wednesday March 11^th- Application goes live (12:01AM) 

Monday-Tuesday March 16^th-17^th- UGBC Info Sessions 

Friday March 20^th- Applications due (11:59PM) 

Sunday-Monday March 22^nd-23^rd ED/AD Interviews 

Wednesday March 25^th ED/AD Appointments announced 

Friday March 27^th- Friday April ^3rd- Regular Interviews begin 

Sunday April 5th- Appointments released 

Please stay tuned for more information. Currently, we are working on analyzing the structure of UGBC and making sure we have the right mix of positions. In addition, we are preparing and writing position descriptions outlined with goals for each position so students can have a better understanding of what they are applying for. While the application process is still a bit away, please do not hesitate to contact us with questions.

Cheers,

-Al

Day 1: Ready to roll

Early this morning around 12:15AM we recieved word that we had won the UGBC Presidential election with 2665 votes and 67% of the total vote. This was very exciting news and a great way to cap off a fun, energetic and dedicated campaign season. While we were able to enjoy the news and let it sink it, we were also very aware of the short turn around time that we had in terms of preparing for the new year. 

In addition, we also were aware of other commitments that we had, such as our current UGBC positions, other activities, and uh..schoolwork? For that reason, we began working at 9 AM on Saturday morning as we began our work towards our next Administration.

9:00 AM- Rise and shine! The sun is up and so are we (barely.) As promised, we began working post election on the UGBC transition process. The day began with lots of emails to answer. These were emails from friends abroad, family, Administrators, professors and our other campus organizations such as The Heights. After finally getting into the swing of things, Alex and I both had separate phone calls with Alexi Chi, the Editor in Chief from The Heights. Alexi was responsible for writing the breaking news alert of the election and spent a few minutes on the phone with each of us getting some information and quotes for her article. You can view it here.

We've worked with Alexi a bit in the past and we hope to continue a great working relationship throughout the year.

After answering e-mails, we began to plot out our time over the next few weeks. There are a few things that we need to do. Some of these things are:

1. Analyze the current structure of UGBC and finalize Cabinet positions for the 2009-2010 UGBC.

2. Create job descriptions for the UGBC Cabinet positions

3. Create an application and design an application process for prospective UGBC'ers

The focus of today was primarily on how to spend the next few weeks and specifically on the application process. With spring break just around the corner we must work dilgiently to put the process in place and to give students enough time to apply. We hope to have this process released this week.

We also spent part of today setting up meetings with Administrators on campus. Many of our initiatives will require cooperation with many organizations and Administrators and it is important to ensure proper communication in order to collaborate on these issues. We hope to utilize and maximize the most out of each and every day that we have.

Finally, we also realized that we needed to have some fun, and we did just that. I went off to the women's hockey game to watch their Senior Day and Alex, well he decided to catch up on some sleep. Overall, a productive first day! Look for more to come!

Welcome

Welcome to the official blog for the UGBC 2009-2010 transition period. In order to give students a better understanding of the transition process of UGBC we have decided to create a blog to give students information on what we are up to as we prepare for the upcoming year. Both Alex and myself currently hold UGBC positions which we intend to follow through on, but in the meantime we must also prepare for next year. Please take a look at this blog which will give continous updates of the ins and outs of our work. If you should have any questions please feel free to contact us at AlAlex2009@gmail.com

Thanks!

-Al